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alys's review against another edition
adventurous
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
"[Near Eastern] girls ripen faster than us Northern or Occidental types" and therefore the adult man (whose age is never stated, but his twin brother is the Police Commissioner, so I'd say 30 AT LEAST) should wait "four years" before making a move on the now 12 year old, future 16 year old.
I remembered being a little weirded out by the age thing when I read this years ago (at around 12 myself), but at the time I glossed right over the casual racism of the statement. And the casual racism of pretty much the entirety of the book. I hadn't picked this book up in over twenty years, so when I wanted a fun breezy re-read I was not prepared for cringing through huge swaths of the book. From disparaging comments about "the ethnics" to the casual way that even the "good" characters who are shocked (shocked I tell you!) that Tirla would be surprised at the idea that illegal children have some rights later go on to clarify that the reason the city commisioner is upset that a group of kids have been kidnapped is that some of the kids were legal. Because obviously when it was just a bunch of illegal "subbies" people thought it was a problem, but it wasn't A PROBLEM until legal kids were involved. There were offhand remarks about how all of the "ethnic" kids will, given even half a chance "tart it up just like their mothers", or that every single woman with illegal kids was having them with the full intention of selling the children (there is not mention of even one mother who just....wanted lots of kids. During the scene were the illegal children were being forcibly removed to live in an orphanage, it was made very clear that exactly zero of the women were upset because they were losing THEIR CHILDREN, but rather because they were missing out on an opportunity to make a profit.)
Really, there were so many times I was catapulted out of the story by the casual racism on display. It was clearly not intentional, a way of building out a complex character or making a subtle point about "the good guys" being imperfect themselves - the author clearly intended the audience to be nodding their heads along in agreement.
When I was a young teenager I loved this book (largely because I loved Tirla) and the way that it exalted the Special Outsiders who were misunderstood and mistreated by the clearly inferior majority, but I'm no longer in middle school.
I remembered being a little weirded out by the age thing when I read this years ago (at around 12 myself), but at the time I glossed right over the casual racism of the statement. And the casual racism of pretty much the entirety of the book. I hadn't picked this book up in over twenty years, so when I wanted a fun breezy re-read I was not prepared for cringing through huge swaths of the book. From disparaging comments about "the ethnics" to the casual way that even the "good" characters who are shocked (shocked I tell you!) that Tirla would be surprised at the idea that illegal children have some rights later go on to clarify that the reason the city commisioner is upset that a group of kids have been kidnapped is that some of the kids were legal. Because obviously when it was just a bunch of illegal "subbies" people thought it was a problem, but it wasn't A PROBLEM until legal kids were involved. There were offhand remarks about how all of the "ethnic" kids will, given even half a chance "tart it up just like their mothers", or that every single woman with illegal kids was having them with the full intention of selling the children (there is not mention of even one mother who just....wanted lots of kids. During the scene were the illegal children were being forcibly removed to live in an orphanage, it was made very clear that exactly zero of the women were upset because they were losing THEIR CHILDREN, but rather because they were missing out on an opportunity to make a profit.)
Really, there were so many times I was catapulted out of the story by the casual racism on display. It was clearly not intentional, a way of building out a complex character or making a subtle point about "the good guys" being imperfect themselves - the author clearly intended the audience to be nodding their heads along in agreement.
When I was a young teenager I loved this book (largely because I loved Tirla) and the way that it exalted the Special Outsiders who were misunderstood and mistreated by the clearly inferior majority, but I'm no longer in middle school.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infertility, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Trafficking, and Kidnapping